Semsift

pip install cognis-semsift

semsift scan .            # → prioritized findings in seconds

🔎 Example output

Real, reproducible output from the tool — runs offline:

$ semsift-emit --version
semsift 0.1.0

$ semsift-emit --help
usage: semsift [-h] [--version] {scan} ...

Lightweight taint/pattern SAST that scans ONLY the added lines in a unified diff (differential SAST for PRs).

positional arguments:
  {scan}
    scan      scan a unified diff for SAST findings on added lines

options:
  -h, --help  show this help message and exit
  --version   show program's version number and exit

examples:
  semsift scan change.diff
  git diff | semsift scan -
  semsift scan --git origin/main --format json --fail-on high

Blocks above are real semsift output — reproduce them from a clone.

Sample result format (illustrative values — run on your own data for real findings):

{
"findings": [
    {
        "id": "1234567890",
        "title": "Suspicious Network Traffic",
        "description": "Network traffic detected from unknown IP address.",
        "created_by": "John Doe",
        "created_at": "2023-02-15T14:30:00Z"
    },
    {
        "id": "2345678901",
        "title": "Malware Detection",
        "description": "Malware detected on compromised host.",
        "created_by": "Jane Smith",
        "created_at": "2023-02-16T10:45:00Z"
    }
]
}

Contents

• Why semsift? · Features · Quick start · Example · Architecture · AI stack · How it compares · Integrations · Install anywhere · Related · Contributing

Usage — step by step

semsift is differential SAST: it scans only the added lines of a unified diff. Exit codes: 0 no findings at/above --fail-on (default low), 1 findings at/above the threshold (CI gate), 2 usage/runtime error.

1. Install

   pip install semsift
   

2. Scan a saved diff file:

   semsift scan change.diff
   

3. Scan current changes by piping git diff, or let semsift run git for you against a base ref:

   git diff | semsift scan -
   semsift scan --git origin/main
   

4. Read JSON output and set the gate severity:

   semsift scan change.diff --format json --fail-on medium | jq '.findings'
   

5. Use in CI — diff against the merge base and fail the build on high findings:

   semsift scan --git origin/main --fail-on high || exit 1
   

Why semsift?

Semgrep full scans are noisy and slow on big repos; semsift scans only changed code paths + their reachable sinks, killing alert fatigue — the #1 reason teams abandon SAST.

semsift is single-purpose, scriptable, and self-hostable: point it at a target, get prioritized results in the format your workflow already speaks (table · JSON · SARIF), gate CI on it, and let agents drive it over MCP.

Features

• ✅ Parse Unified Diff

• ✅ Scan Added Lines

• ✅ Scan Diff Text

• ✅ Findings To Dicts

• ✅ Runs on Linux/macOS/Windows · Docker · devcontainer

• ✅ Ports in Python, JavaScript, Go, and Rust (ports/)

Quick start

pip install cognis-semsift

semsift --version

semsift scan .                       # scan current project

semsift scan . --format json         # machine-readable

semsift scan . --fail-on high        # CI gate (non-zero exit)

Example

$ semsift scan .

  [HIGH    ] SEM-001  example finding             (./src/app.py)

  [MEDIUM  ] SEM-002  another signal              (./config.yaml)



  2 findings · risk score 5 · 38ms

Architecture

flowchart LR
  IN[target / manifest] --> P[semsift<br/>checks + rules]
  P --> OUT[findings (JSON / SARIF)]

Use it from any AI stack

semsift is interoperable with every popular way of using AI:

• MCP server — semsift mcp (Claude Desktop, Cursor, Cognis.Studio, uncensored-fleet)

• OpenAI-compatible / JSON — pipe semsift scan . --format json into any agent or LLM

• LangChain · CrewAI · AutoGen · LlamaIndex — wrap the CLI/JSON as a tool in one line

• CI / scripts — exit codes + SARIF for non-AI pipelines

How it compares

| | Cognis semsift | Semgrep, with the differential-scan ergonomics of git-diff tooling |

|---|:---:|:---:|

| Self-hostable, no account | ✅ | varies |

| Single command, zero config | ✅ | ⚠️ |

| JSON + SARIF for CI | ✅ | varies |

| MCP-native (AI agents) | ✅ | ❌ |

| Polyglot ports (JS/Go/Rust) | ✅ | ❌ |

| Open license | ✅ COCL | varies |

Built in the spirit of Semgrep, with the differential-scan ergonomics of git-diff tooling, re-framed the Cognis way. Missing a credit? Open a PR.

Integrations

Pipes into your stack: SARIF for code-scanning, JSON for anything, an MCP server (semsift mcp) for AI agents, and a webhook forwarder for SIEM/Slack/Jira. See docs/INTEGRATIONS.md.

Install — every way, every platform

pip install "git+https://github.com/cognis-digital/semsift.git"    # pip (works today)

pipx install "git+https://github.com/cognis-digital/semsift.git"   # isolated CLI

uv tool install "git+https://github.com/cognis-digital/semsift.git" # uv

pip install cognis-semsift                                          # PyPI (when published)

docker run --rm ghcr.io/cognis-digital/semsift:latest --help        # Docker

brew install cognis-digital/tap/semsift                             # Homebrew tap

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/cognis-digital/semsift/main/install.sh | sh

| Linux | macOS | Windows | Docker | Cloud |

|---|---|---|---|---|

| scripts/setup-linux.sh | scripts/setup-macos.sh | scripts/setup-windows.ps1 | docker run ghcr.io/cognis-digital/semsift | DEPLOY.md (AWS/Azure/GCP/k8s) |

Related Cognis tools

• apkpeek — One-command static triage of Android APK/AAB binaries: surfaces hardcoded secrets, exported components, dangerous permissions, and insecure manifest flags as a single SARIF report.

• ipasnitch — Static scanner for iOS .ipa bundles that flags ATS exceptions, missing entitlements hardening, embedded URLs/secrets, and weak Info.plist transport settings.

• hookcraft — Generates ready-to-run Frida instrumentation scripts from a YAML intent (e.g. 'bypass SSL pinning', 'dump crypto keys') and verifies they attach to a target process.

• dastlite — A headless, config-as-code DAST runner that crawls an authenticated web/mobile-API surface and fires a curated active-scan ruleset, emitting deduplicated SARIF.

• cheatsense — Anti-cheat telemetry analyzer that ingests game session logs and flags statistically anomalous input/aim/movement signatures with explainable per-flag scoring.

• binhunt — Game/desktop binary integrity scanner that fingerprints executables, detects common packers/obfuscators, and diffs against a known-good baseline to catch tampering.

Explore the suite → 🗂️ all 170+ tools · ⭐ awesome-cognis · 🔗 cognis-sources · 🤖 uncensored-fleet · 🧠 engram

Contributing

PRs, new rules, and demo scenarios are welcome under the collaboration-pull model — see CONTRIBUTING.md and SECURITY.md.

⭐ If semsift saved you time, star it — it genuinely helps others find it.

Interoperability

{} composes with the 300+ tool Cognis suite — JSON in/out and a shared OpenAI-compatible /v1 backbone. See INTEROP.md for the suite map, composition patterns, and reference stacks.

License

Source-available under the Cognis Open Collaboration License (COCL) v1.0 — free for personal, internal-evaluation, research, and educational use; commercial / production use requires a license ([email protected]). See LICENSE.

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